Berserk
by chinarai
Summary: Secret words, a demon, a reunion, blooming feelings, a vow to protect. This journey to reunite with them only serves to remind her that she had been shaped to be a soldier. Noodle finally reaches Plastic Beach and resumes her life beside her bandmates - and her robotic replica - for the time being.
1. i: prologue

Me? Taking a break? lmao AS IF

Enjoy!

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 **i. prologue**

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Before she boarded M. Harriet, Noodle didn't have the time to keep up with her band mates, that she admits. She learned of what she missed in the first few days confined in a cruiser with no way of leaving or getting to her destination at a faster pace. After some much needed catching up, she chose to give the benefit of the doubt to certain things she learned and waited for a confirmation she could see with her own eyes once she arrived in Murdoc Niccals's new abode.

This was not whatever Noodle had been expecting to find once they arrived in Plastic Beach. It had never crossed her mind that she'd indeed have a cyborg replica of herself (that is currently leaking oil and getting out of control) could've been truly real, or that she'd run into a battlefield in the middle of the ocean. There are planes and ships attacking the pile of trash that Murdoc has dubbed as home, where he holds 2D against his will as far as she knows.

Staring down at the robot from between a gigantic Russel's teeth, she wants to feel anything, at it, at Murdoc, at anyone. Anger, sadness, anything. All the guitarist does is lock away her feelings, calculate her options and try to figure out what to do. There is a weird, dark being somewhere around the island and it needs to be found as soon as possible. There are too many enemies shooting bullets at the people present and, despite the creepy image it is down below, the cyborg seems to be fighting to defend them, probably under Murdoc's orders. The bassist is nowhere to be seen right now and 2D is most likely in the underwater room Russel mentioned earlier as they were drawing closer.

Logically, it's best to get rid of the most number of pirates before she decides to confront her replica and her creator, but there are too many of them. Too many armed men with only one person – _thing –_ with enough experience in wielding guns to fight them. Noodle can hold her ground in a fight, but against this many opponents and without a plan, she won't last for too long and everyone else will go down with her sooner or later. She glances up at the darkening sky, smoke blending with the blue hues above, her bruised eye stinging for a moment. If the cyborg were in better conditions and were willing to listen and team up with her, the both of them could take them down. Not as easily as she would like to believe, but it would be better than nothing. But alas, the oil leak and the sparks sprouting from the juncture of its neck and the bullet hole in its head won't allow that to be possible.

Therefore, she only has an option, one she'd been hoping she wouldn't have to rely on. Noodle touches the waterproof case beneath her dress, pressing it to her sternum, and yanks it from her neck as she yells for Russel. The drummer's enormous hand approaches his mouth and she jumps on it, feeling the wind brush against the uncovered half of her face as she is brought up to his eye-level. Below on the island, the cyborg watches on with glowing, flickering eyes, unmoving even as something explodes a distance behind it.

The guitarist opens the case and takes out a little hard cover notepad from within, flipping through the wrinkled pages in haste, looking for a specific topic. The enormous man is frowning down at her and squints his white eyes when she lifts the book so he can see it better, his frown deepening to a scowl as he read over the tiny handwritten letters, eyes opening wide once he realizes what she is implying.

"Do it." Is the only thing she says to him in an almost pleading, yet hard, tone, and he nods after a moment's hesitation.

As much as he is reluctant to follow with her plan, Russel has to admit that their chances of getting out of this unscathed and together are slim if they don't follow through with this. He reads the words over again and repeats them in his head as she shoves the notepad into the case, closes it, and watches as he tucks it away safely inside a pocket. Noodle rearranges the mask over her face and looks up at him, waiting for it.

Russel swallows past a lump in his throat and exhales in resolution, parting his lips to pronounce the words she has just revealed to him. He watches in stunned silence as her form grows rigid, only the slightest twitch of a finger as an indication that the command is working. He had never thought he would be the one to awake this side of her that has laid dormant for so long, but here he is now. Watching as his baby girl, the little innocent Japanese girl that arrived to them in a crate, begins to turn into the killing machine she had been shaped to be by the government of her home country leaves him with a sour taste in his mouth.

Being the one that said the command, he is the one that has some control over her. "Protect the band and the collaborators, Noodle." The drummer says, orders when he finds his voice and notices her watching him with blank, calculating eyes. She nods at his words, looking over his hesitancy, and is off in the next second in a blur of white fabric.

Noodle has leaped from his hand, landing nimbly on her feet on the pile of trash and lifting her head to study those around her. Cyborg is now part of the band, so she runs past its troubleshooting form and towards the first group of pirates in her path. It is like second nature the way she jumps, hurls a man twice her size twenty feet away and punches a man's face until his nose breaks with a sickening pop and a spurt of blood. Her speed is never this fast when she is aware of her movements and actions, but it's not as if she notices the difference in this state anyway. To her, it's as if time has slowed down to allow her to predict movements and see ahead of the situation. With her senses heightened and adrenaline rushing in her bloodstream, it's easy for her to distinguish the sound of a bullet from among all the chaos and evade it with grace and ease.

Russel turns from the sight and reaches for a plane, throwing it away until it falls to the cold waters of the ocean. He has to help her in any way he can, seeing as the cyborg is now short-circuiting, its weapons laying on the ground uselessly. Besides, it hurts him to see Noodle acting this way, erasing little by little the image of the girl skipping happily down the hallways of Kong.

The guitarist finishes off the first five men she battled and darts to another portion of the island, her analytical gaze identifying a hurdle of armed, but inexperienced people as the collaborators and recognizing them as part of her mission. She takes a gun from the trembling hands of an older black man in the group and turns her sights to an approaching opponent, shooting bullets at him until he is lying on the ground with blood oozing from his motionless body. The air slowly grows heavy with the smell of copper and smoke mingled with the natural stench of Plastic Beach.

Together by the entrance of the newest Gorillaz headquarters, the collaborators turn to enter the mansion built upon the mass of trash, pushing past a shocked bassist that watches on in horror. The girl he first saw as a little kid has turned into a more violent and deadlier version of the robot he had created to fill in her place during her absence. Her white outfit is clean of any specks of blood as she lays rampage around the island, taking men down one by one using her bare hands, firearms or any blades, rusted or not, she finds lying about. Anything she can find in the trash can be used as a weapon. Russel is dealing with enemies coming from above, slamming one airplane into the other, resulting in an explosion that illuminates the entire place and bathes Noodle in an eerie orange glow. Finally, Murdoc catches sight of his cyborg, now on its knees, eyes dark. It has deactivated, its system shut off at some point and, as opposed as to what he had thought, Noodle has not laid a hand on it.

Murdoc watches from afar as Noodle rises to her feet slowly, rolling her neck to release the tension in her muscles before turning around towards him, her hands releasing the still body of an opponent and allowing it to fall limply on the ground. She is finished with the pirates that had been on the island, more bodies than expected lying about the expanse of his home. He holds his breath. The guitarist takes a step in his direction, and another and another, until she breaks out in a sprint and he has to duck to the side to evade her. For a moment, he believes she is coming for his life, but instead she looks around and completely ignores him as she finds a way to go below ground by jumping down the elevator shaft, her mask falling off her head along the way. The clang as she lands on metal reverberates around Plastic Beach and everything seems to grow deathly still.

Noodle is almost finished with her mission. That dark being must have left, though. If she had found it, it would be dead by now, along with its henchmen or whatever these pirates used to be. The collaborators are unharmed and so is part of the band. There is only one person left that needs to be found and her mission will be complete.

Tearing the metal door off its hinges is not an easy feat for someone small like her, but she manages. It falls down loudly and startles the person cowering in the corner, causing the man to press himself as close as possible to the walls and grab his hair in fear. She lingers by the door for a moment, waiting for him to lift his head so she can be sure this is the right person, but he doesn't move much aside from the trembling of his muscles. Her steps don't echo in the room as she nears him, his cries for help and mercy getting louder the closer she gets to him.

She crouches before him, her vacant face capable of unsettling anyone. Her fingers curl around his blue hair and the man sobs loudly, mumbling words she cannot understand, nor does she bother to listen. Noodle lifts his head, taking in his tears and runny, red-blotched nose, narrowing her eyes as she accesses the status of the task given to her by her master.

The man risks an eye open, only to have both of them opening as wide as they will go at the sight of her. One part of her face is injured and there is cut on her opposite cheek, and her gaze is as dull as it is hard, but he looks past that as he mouths her name until it tumbles out his chapped lips in a whisper.

"N-Noodle?"

Noodle tilts her head as she examines him. This man knows her, and although she recognizes him, Noodle cannot remember who he is.

This is the last person missing. The collaborators and the band are safe, as her master had ordered.

Her mission is complete.

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SO the concert? AMAZING. I got somewhat close to Damon and I've been crying since. The trip to the beach? A beautiful place, but I wouldn't go back tbh. It did serve it's purpose and inspired me to pick this back up, and I'm too anxious to wait to post this sooo yep. Also, I joined the 2nu alliance and it certainly pushed me to post this much, much earlier hehehe

Here, I'll explore a headcanon of mine that will come around in two chapters? The fanfics I've read so far all depict Noodle as truly trapped in hell between phases 2-3, and honestly, I have my doubts, hence this. I hope this intro gives some insight to the title, and you can draw your theories and shoot them at me, I'd love to know where you think this will go (tho I'll never tell if you're right cause spoilers)

Guess we'll see each other again in about fifteen days. Take care!


	2. ii: awake

beep beep here we go

guest reply: thank you! hold on tight because this isn't ending so soon

Enjoy!

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 **ii. awake**

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Noodle emerges from within the plastic mansion after climbing her way through the elevator shaft from the underwater room to the first floor. She stops at the doorway once she sees most of the collaborators and some band members taking in the damage done by the pirates to the island and the damage she had done to the pirates. The scene ahead of fallen bodies and blood and some torn limbs doesn't seem to bother her at all as she looks at it with the same indifference she displayed before.

Her cyborg replica is lying against a plastic palm tree, unmoving, soulless eyes staring ahead into space. Murdoc is stepping over a dead pirate as he makes his way to the house upon noticing her there, and she can hear the singer approaching from behind after having stepped off the lift. The bassist is asking her questions, frowning down at her, but she pays him no attention, looking for Russel instead, or rather, the only man that can control her right now. The older of the two Brits near her is getting more and more frustrated with her silence, moving his hands to grab her by the shoulders but aware that it can't, and most likely won't, end well if he touches her while she is like _this_. 2D has moved himself to stand before her as well, feeling lost with scattered thoughts, fingers curling and uncurling and longing to touch her and make sure she's real and not the result of taking too much painkillers again.

Finally, the guitarist perks up once the drummer returns from the round he has done to check for more pirates or ships. He looks down at the three and his troubled gaze falls on her taunt stance, her shoulders squared perfectly as she waits for the next order. He doesn't need to be a genius to know that her mind, in this current state, doesn't register the importance of the three men looking at her intently. To her, right now, all they are is one person she has to obey blindly and people she needs to protect. Russel shares glances with the other two men, ignoring the other people present, and exhales through his nose as he recalls the words that will bring her back to her senses.

The random string of words snap her out of her killing machine state and her knees buckle beneath her, her own weight too heavy for her spent muscles to handle. Both Murdoc and 2D move to hold her before she hits the ground, a shout of pain erupting from her dry lips as her mind finally registers the aching all over her body caused by the strain she put it through. Her eyes prickle with tears and the muscles of her legs and arms are burning, so she grits her teeth to keep as much of her composure as possible, trying to distract herself from all the pain. The singer is talking to her in a desperate tone and the bassist is getting progressively more annoyed at the other's loud display of concern.

Silently, she takes in their expressions, feeling her body leaning towards 2D as he pulls her closer reflexively when he coils his arms back at the threat of another beating from Murdoc. The bandleader has a deep scowl on his face as he snarls at the harmless man, and she sluggishly tries to meet Russel's gaze. He's all but a blurry image, looking down at her worriedly and probably resenting the fact that he is too big to help her much now, but he rescued her earlier and brought her here, so he has done more than enough.

With the pain and the commotion getting too much to bear as the collaborators circle around them to examine her, Noodle feels her eyes roll back and surrenders herself to unconsciousness.

* * *

Noodle wakes up several hours later, however unaware of it. Her eyes open with difficulty and the lingering pain in her body overwhelms her brain, but still she struggles to sit up in a bed set in a room she does not recognize. The only tiny, circular window shows her a view of the open sea. Across from it is a doorway, its metal door tossed carelessly to the side after an incredible force busted it out of the hinges. Groaning in pain, she sets her feet down on the metallic floor, wincing at the cold, and moves until she is standing, mindful of her spinning head. Picking her way through the mess of contents scattered on the ground, Noodle slowly walks outside into a short hallway, at the end of which she finds a lift.

The guitarist steps inside and leans against its wall. The machine groans and whines as it makes its way up to the house entrance. She didn't think she would see a view of the ocean and the trash that compose the base of the island, but that is what she finds once the doors open. Confused, she steps outside into the open air, heavily laced by a salty breeze that mingles with the foul smell of the discarded objects she is very carefully threading on and looks up at the house, squinting at the sunlight. Why the hell had Murdoc designed the house to be this way with the ground floor up in the air? There is a reason why he is a bassist and not an architect or engineer.

However, it occurs to her that she had arrived when the sun was setting, or rising, so something must have happened between their arrival and the present moment. She cannot remember anything. Noodle decides to walk back into the elevator and head higher up in hopes of finding someone that can refresh her memories, but stops short once a large shadow falls over her form, blocking the harsh sunlight that hurts her eyes. Turning, she smiles in relief when she sees the familiar face of a gigantic drummer, pushing the aching and the pain aside for a moment to close the distance between them quickly.

He's looking down at her with concern etched on his face, his arms leaning on the island, supporting most of his weight on the mass of trash in the middle of the ocean. Noodle climbs onto one of his upturned palms and braces herself while he lifts his hand to have a better and closer look at her. The most glaring injury she sustains is the old bruise around her eye, but other than that, he can only see a few minor cuts on her arms and the fresh one on her cheek.

Sighing in relief, Russel lifts his other hand to touch gently the top of her head with one thick, large finger and returns the smile she is giving him. "Mornin', baby girl. Ya slept fo' a while."

"I did?" She asks with a slow nod of her head and decides to wait for him to explain what happened.

He understands what she wants judging by the look she's giving him, but the drummer would rather not recall what happened. It isn't like he can simply forget what he witnessed or ignore what she went through in the past, but if he cannot think or talk about that, if only for a little longer, then he will grab onto that chance tightly. Russel searches for the tiny waterproof case inside the pocket of his drenched jeans and presents it to her, lowering the little book to her hands once she catches sight of it. A knowing look befalls her expression that turns somber, and she hides the case from view, her hands smoothing out the faint shape it creates beneath her outfit.

"Go on, girl. Ya need to eat." She nods at his words, but isn't very hungry. Still, she jumps from his palm when he lowers his hand and walks back into the lift, pressing the button to the ground floor and watching as the doors slide closed and cut him from her sight.

Noodle walks out into the open air again when the elevator stops, striding along a large balcony that overlooks the island below and the sea ahead. Russel is running laps around the floating piece of garbage as a way to expend some energy, probably in hopes that he will shrink back to his normal size by doing that. There are some fake trees nearby and a small stretch of plastic grass shines brightly under the sun in this portion of the house. Has she mentioned that the floor plan of this place is confusing? Not that Kong's was better anyways, but she is having trouble to find the kitchen.

She returns to the lift and goes up another floor, and the smell of burnt toast coming from the door ahead greets her. Finally, she has found her destination. Her quiet steps take her through a lounge area coupled with a telly and other entertainment devices until she is standing on the doorway that separates the living room from the kitchen. Murdoc has his face shoved in the morning paper – how he laid his hands on that is a mystery to her – and 2D is struggling to get breakfast going. The bassist barks at him angrily and her blood flares, but there is little she can do to defend the singer right now. As if her body senses her urge to fight the older man, it decides to remind her of her sore muscles and moves to lean on the doorframe with a hiss she can't contain.

Murdoc lifts his head to look at her at the same time the singer drops some pans inside the sink and winces, starting to apologize. The bassist is already ignoring him and he sends his chair rocking backwards to stand and walk over to the injured woman – woman! she has grown so much! – and hesitantly touches her arm, as if afraid she will attack him. Murdoc isn't a gentle and caring person in the least, but he watched her grow up (well, not really, he missed most of it because the band went on hiatus), he had thought she had died (and even blamed himself for a while), and just last evening he watched as she decimated a horde of pirates that had been chasing them for weeks. So, with as much care as someone like him can muster, he takes her to one of the chairs and sits her down on it, if only to try and save himself from her rage if she ever decides to kick his ass for all he's done.

Noodle herself is a little bewildered by his actions, but doesn't give it much thought as another wave of pain crashes through her. "Dents, get 'er a glass o' water o' somethin'!" The singer gaping openly at their once lost friend jolts into action and Murdoc drums his hands on the tabletop as he watches her wince and gasp.

She is alive. Good... Good. It's as if a weight has been lifted off his shoulders and now he feels slightly better about the El Mañana ordeal. He will never admit it, but he has missed her dearly until he lost himself along the way and did what he did until he ended up right where he is in this very instant, living in the middle of the ocean in a house built with accumulated trash. Murdoc watches her drink all the contents of the glass and slump forward on the table to rest her forehead on her arms. Who would have thought that Noodle had it in her to take so many lives? Suddenly, her past at the hands of the Japanese government is more real than he had thought it would be, and not just a story she created.

2D is hovering over her, just waiting for Noodle to pick herself up so he can wrap his arms around her in relief. It has been so long... He has suffered so much thinking that she was gone and that he would never see her again. He is a little scared due to the way she barged into his room on the previous day, but missed the worst of it, the skills she displayed fighting off unwanted people that were terrorizing the collaborators. Still, it is Noodle. His Noodle, his best friend. She has finally come back to him, to them.

The guitarist rises from her dejected position, fighting to open her eyes and steady the spinning of her head that started once more. Two arms weave around her body and pull her closer to the lanky singer who has already been reduced to a sobbing mess as he holds her. Murdoc groans and rolls his eyes, stepping back to the seat he had occupied before and snatching the glass of rum left on the table. He knows she won't get much talking done the way she is now, recovering and hurting, so he will not her press on the matter for the time being. Still, he is not a nice person, so he lets them know that by growling and slamming the now empty glass on the table before scooping up his newspaper.

"Yeh got some explainin' to do later, miss." She only nods weakly, leaning her weight on the singer and softly patting his back with a hand.

2D continues to cry into her hair, only pulling away to sniffle loudly before returning his face to her locks again, the faded purple mixed with her natural black looking horrendous whenever sunlight falls on her head. The mixture resembles a dark blue from time to time, somehow.

Noodle manages to pull away from him gently and gives him one last comforting pat on his back, staring up into his black eyes with a soft expression on her face. "Are yeh 'ungry? Do yeh need anyffink?"

Despite losing her appetite since Russel informed her the secret command had worked, she knows it would be best to eat something. The last thing they all need now is for her to fall ill. "Is there anything easy on the stomach?" Noodle asks and cranes her head around, looking for fruits or something of the like. 2D moves away to fetch her a couple of apples and some nearly too ripe bananas they have left in store. She takes the fruits from him with a smile. "I'd like to sit in the sun for a bit."

He is ready to follow her to the balcony when a glance at the dirty sink makes him stop with a heavy sigh. If he does not clean it up, he will have Murdoc's prized Cuban boots up his ass in record time. With a mumbled apology, the singer sullenly makes his way to the pile of dirty dishes and begins washing them. If it weren't for the quivering of her legs, she would have helped him on any other day. Noodle tells him to meet up with her before walking out the kitchen, passing by the lounge area and stopping halfway through.

She had not noticed it before, but upon the worn out coffee table laid her mask, plain side up. The guitarist balances the fruits against her torso with one arm and reaches for the mask with her free hand, skillfully slipping it over her face and feeling its familiar weight on her head. She feels bare and empty without it. She has gone so long wearing this piece to conceal her face that she is unused to not having it on now. Noodle resumes her walk to the elevator, polishing an apple on her dress as she waits for the lift and taking a bite of the fruit as she steps inside.

Surprisingly, some seagulls have gathered on the wall that separates the balcony from the fake grass and a sure fall. They remain in that area even as she walks closer to them, tilting their heads curiously as she finishes her breakfast and tosses the apple core over her shoulder. Instantly, Noodle regrets her actions and turns around, leaning over the wall to try and glimpse down at all the garbage below her. Just because she is living in a floating landfill now does not mean that she can toss trash left and right even if it is organic and will decompose in the long run. It's very different from leaving banana peels beneath trees in grassy areas where the waste will decompose and feed the soil.

Noodle hunches over the wall and lets one arm hang limply before her as the other pushes the mask up to her head to protect her scalp from the burning sun. She can't remember what it is like to go to the beach. The last time it happened was when they were in Los Angeles and she was ten, before everything went down the drain for the first time. It is not as if she can relieve the fuzzy memories by laying a towel over discarded objects and trying to pretend they were soft, white sand. The smell doesn't help much either as it will break through her mental image effortlessly.

Oh well. She was young and scared when she found herself in a haunted place in England where it never seemed to stop raining. Surely, she can get used to this now. At least, the sun is visible from here. And there are no zombies.

* * *

Last week, I picked back up _Violet Evergarden_ and the bits about her past are exactly how I view Noodle in the military. Noodle's going to interact a lot with everyone, but rest assured the 2nu goods are on the way, although it'll take a while.

See ya!


	3. iii: past

Enjoy!

* * *

 **iii. past**

* * *

Despite wanting to take at least a whole day to herself to heal from the command and get used to the place, Noodle jumps right into their routine after lunch ended up in a disaster. Apparently, not only is 2D being held here against his will and had been forced to work on the album, but he is also forced to be the bassist's personal maid and do the housework. Murdoc never really cared about clean, spotless things and it is obvious he is doing this just to abuse the singer further. Such thing was seen when 2D burned lunch to a crisp and earned a punch to the gut that left him wheezing for five minutes.

Russel has always been the best cook out of them all, Noodle coming not too far behind. It's been a while since the last time she cooked anything, and she believes 2D when he says he learned how to cook during the time he spent in Beirut, but she would rather try to make dinner herself instead of watch him get hurt again because his nerves have been haywire since he set foot on the island. Pasta seems like a fail-proof dish in her opinion. Hah.

Noodle is waiting for the water to begin to boil in the biggest pot they have as she looks through the pantry trying to find enough packages of pasta for the three of them and a very large Russel. Most of the things they have in their possession in the pantry are nearly expiring, but the last few slices of bread and eggs they have in the kitchen are fresh. It is clear as water that they rely on easy, quick meals, either because 2D is more comfortable making sandwiches or because he ends up ruining lunch in one way or another and has to turn to bread to save the day.

She retrieves enough pasta to tickle the drummer's stomach, hopefully, a bottle of olive oil and some garlic. Spaghetti _aglio e olio_ it is since there is not enough tomato sauce to go with this quantity of food. The water is beginning to simmer when she rips open the plastic and places the spaghetti inside the pan before retrieving a cutting board from the cupboard and a knife from the drawer. Noodle eyes the blade warily after testing it on the back of a fingernail; it is extremely sharp and she doubts 2D was the one who sharpened it.

The guitarist begins peeling and chopping the garlic as she goes over the events of the past years in her head. Russel is setting up a makeshift dining table down on the house entrance so they can all have their first meal together in years and she can tell them exactly what happened after the windmill island crashed. She cannot deny that she is feeling anxious about it. It is not like the events are a secret or that she has been traumatized by them. Hell, if anything they made her stronger and left her aware that she is not as normal as she would like to believe. This journey to reunite with them only serves to remind her that she had been shaped to be a soldier before she decided on her own that she wanted to be a guitarist.

After a while of cooking and thinking, the meal is done and she carries the large pan in her still aching arms to the lift and down, down, down until she is stepping over indiscernible junk and walking to the table the drummer has set up. 2D is already there catching up with Russel, his fidgets a little more common than she remembers, and he smiles brightly at her as she sets the pan down on the center of the table and puts the lid away so they can smell the concoction. The drummer is complimenting her while she serves a generous portion on the dishes, and a little later Murdoc emerges from the lift and sits down with a grunt on the chair besides 2D's.

That is, certainly, one of the most awkward experiences she's gone through up to date. Once all the small talk dies and the two men seem to come down from their high after eating some proper food, they all lapse into silence and the three band members try hard not to stare at her. Well, only two actually. Murdoc is openly staring with blood-shot eyes and waiting for her to speak up.

Noodle swallows her first forkful of food and waits a few seconds to see how her stomach will react. When it does not protest, she turns her attention to them. "Um... Where do you want me to begin?"

"Where've ya been?"

"Tha 'elicopters."

"What happened?"

She touches a hand to her forehead, which causes Russel to lean forward in concern and 2D to reach over to her. Noodle waves them off and rubs the inner corner of her eyes. "Right. The helicopters." She figures she shall start with that one, Murdoc's question.

"Yeah, they were not tha 'elicopters from Feel Good Inc."

Noodle nods in agreement and searches for the right words. There are none. "So basically the Japanese government was suspecting that I was alive and they came after me to end me for once."

The light of the lighthouse passes by them, illuminating their baffled expressions. No one was waiting for her to say _that_ , much less in an off-hand tone as if she were repeating something she had mentioned to them at least twice before. Chaos seems to erupt around her as the three man begin speaking at once, one trying to overpower the other with Russel winning, asking her too many questions that she cannot even understand.

At least they grow quiet when she opens her mouth to tell them to _shut the hell up_ , thinking that she is about to go on with her story. She does exactly that afterwards. "I survived, obviously." Noodle fixes Murdoc with a glare, to which he scoffs and rolls his eyes in response, but does not argue. "I got a parachute and managed to jump before the island crashed with me in it. The explosion from the bomb blew me far from the set, though."

Noodle looks down at the table and wishes she had some water to sip on right now. Although, the rum bottle by Murdoc's hand seems like a good option too. "As to what happened and where I've been, many Japanese agents came after me once they shot down and blew up the island... To check if I had died in the crash as they had expected. It was messy. What happened earlier here was like child play compared to what they could do." She touches a hand to her chin, glancing up at the starry sky. "I knew that I couldn't return to Kong with them hot on my trail, so I went the opposite direction, to Japan."

"Were ya out o' yo' damn mind!?" Murdoc leans over the table with a hiss. "Tryin' to run from tha viper an' ya run aight into its nest!"

"I had to make sure Mr. Kyuzo was safe!" She sneers and turns her face away from him, resuming her tale without looking at any of them. "And he wasn't. He was being held captive because, in case it was confirmed I was truly part of the secret experiment, he would have to pay the price as well. Mr. Kyuzo never once revealed anything to them." Noodle rubs her forehead tiredly, losing what little appetite she had before. "Long story short, I had to deal with the entire military branch that knew of the project."

A pregnant pause lingers until Russel speaks up. "And by deal, ya mean..."

"No." Killing an entire military branch would attract too much attention. Mr. Kyuzo used the same method he once used on her, wiped out whatever they knew about the secret project and set a key word to unlock their memories. It is best if none of them know about it, though. "They would come for the three of you next if I didn't do anything."

Noodle sighs and twirls some spaghetti with a fork, cheek propped up on a fist and eyes watching her food with disinterest. "That took a while and once I went back to England, Kong Studios was burnt to a charred mess much worse than 2D's failed attempt at lunch." The singer rubs his head sheepishly, but perks up once her statement hits home. Kong? Burnt down?

Murdoc has the audacity of taking a swig from the rum bottle he brought down with himself right then, attracting the eyes of the other band mates and revealing himself as the guilty one. He is not going to bother explaining why he had done that. The insurance money is the very reason why he could afford this _paradisiac_ getaway.

"I managed to track 2D down to Beirut, but once I got there, he was gone too." The singer shoots a glare at their bassist, who glares right back and even bares his yellowed, uneven teeth at him to intimidate the other Brit and get him to back down. Noodle makes a shushing noise, feeling like a mother that is trying to control her children. "Eventually, I found out about this place and boarded a ship that was to come by here. But before I could make it, I was attacked by those pirates."

She turns to Murdoc and lifts an inquisitive brow at him. He masks a wince and speaks around a mouthful of pasta. "They might 'ave mistaken ya fo' tha cyborg, love."

Noodle huffs in indignation. "You've even built a replica of me. We're talking about that later." He scoffs at her, but knows there is no way out of this. It is inevitable and she will press him until he tells her all there is to know about the cyborg.

All she wants to do after that part of the conversation is over is eat a little more so Russel will not force her to do it and then go to bed. She can hardly wait to hear what the other three had been up to these past years, but right now a good night of sleep is calling her, especially when her body is still sore. Before she can lay her head on the thin pillow, though, Noodle has to help the singer clean everything up to save him from another unnecessary beating. Russel was kind enough to give them a lift to the balcony on the ground floor, saving them some time and part of the effort of taking everything back up with them. And then finally, she can go to her room.

Err – 2D's room? Their room? According to Murdoc, he had included in the house's floor plan one room for her and one for Russel, but since they took _too fuckin' long_ to come back to them, then he just used said rooms to other things. That being said, there is not a single spare room that is furnished with a bed. All of them have machines and equipment or useless stuff that she does not know what they are for or why Murdoc keeps them. As result, 2D offers that she sleep in his bed, or else she will have to sleep on the couch or in one of the sleeping bags they have lying around for some reason. Noodle denies at first; it is his bed, he has to be the one to sleep in it, but he is so adamant that she do it because she passed out on the previous day and she sees no other option than to comply.

Noodle does not want to talk about this particular subject yet, of why she had gone on a rampage against the pirates and why she fainted afterwards. It is best if only Russel knows of the password. Murdoc can use it to his own benefit and there is a possibility 2D can let it slip somehow. The less people that know about it, the better and safer they'll be.

The singer lends her a shirt that stops inches above her knees so she can sleep and wear when she is out and about during the day. Noodle lies down on his mattress, the covers up to her chest and arms resting over her stomach, watching the ceiling as 2D sets the sleeping bag not too far from the bed and flops down on it rather ungracefully. She can feel his eyes on her so she turns to meet his gaze, half of her vision covered by the pillow.

"I'm glad yo' back."

Smiling at the dazed look he is giving her, the guitarist stretches her arm and wiggles her fingers, wrapping them softly around his hand once it is within her reach. "Me too, Stu." He returns her smile, his eyes curving as his lips move. It takes them both a while to fall asleep.

* * *

I changed the summary about five times, I kid you not, and I'm still not content with it.

Thiiis is the headcanon that somewhat inspired this fanfic. Personally, I find it to be more plausible than Noodle getting stuck in hell, but you know - you can headcanon whatever you want. And this is my theory.

It's a good thing I have more chapters done, because I'm in a bit of a writer's block yay

See ya!


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